Pincher Creek Family Resource Society asks Town Council for continued, possibly expanded, use of Town gym

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Anne Gover appeared as a scheduled delegation before Town Council on the evening of February 13.  She was appearing on behalf of the Pincher Creek Family Resource Society (PCFRS), which administers the Parent Link Centre.

Gover shared the successes of the Society's use of the gym attached to Town Hall, and sought an understanding going forward for further, possibly expanded, use of the facility.


Gover said that the Parent Link Centre has been supplying the mats and bouncy toys that community members are allowed to use when the rent the gym from the Town for parties and other events, in exchange for the free use of the space by PCFRS on Thursday mornings during the school year for their Gymtastics program.

According to Gover attendance at Gymtastics has been highly encouraging, with 686 children and parents having attended.  "That is repeat customers," she said,  "And it is daycare children, and it is families, dads and moms and grandmas from the community that come."  As a result she said PCFRS would like to continue to use the gym, or even use it more if possible.  She said the organization was thinking of running a Dad's program.  Gover indicated that staffing expenses were always a significant issue, and PCFRS was trying to do more with less money.

"We've been around since 2007, and we've grown," said Gover.  "Now we have Parent Link Centre, FCSS programs, we had a 'Grow along with me' project, 'Fruits of Empathy' project we support...and we're doing it with pretty much the same resources.  So we're running the Parent Link programs, and triple-P parenting programs which are educational courses for parents and grandparents, and we're doing outreach work through funding from FCSS, mostly cooking programs with Group Group Youth, Maggie the Magic Cupboard with Brighter Futures, we continue with the Lego League, we support the instructors for the Roots of Empathy program, and we are involved with the EC Mapping project... so we're trying to do a lot with the same amount of money.  So if you were to choose to continue supporting Parent Link by offering us the use of the Town Hall gym we'd really appreciate it."

Councillor Roy Smyth asked what proportion of the clientele was from out of town.  Gover estimated usage by MD of Pincher Creek residents was about 30%.

Councillor Don Anderberg asked how much the regular hourly rate for use of the gymn was, and was told it was $10.00 an hour.

In response to a clarification by Councillor Sahra Nodge, Gover affirmed to council that the Parent Link contract with Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) prohibited the organization from charging for any of their programs.

According to the PCFRS/Parent Link Centre's year-end report to FCSS, the various programs they supply to the community had a total attendance of 1895 people.  This included various parenting groups, playgroups, the "Let's Cook" program, and the Lego League.  229 people attended various events, including Development Check-up Day, Ooey Gooey and Out and About, the very successful Baby Clothing Exchange Fair, Family Day Skate, Way to Grow Baby, and Birthday Parties.